Safety is the paramount design criteria for passenger amenities, particularly in the context of aircraft furnishings. For example, amenities should not contribute to traumatic head and neck injury during a high impact event. Related safety standards include the head impact criteria (HIC). During head impact criteria (HIC) testing, it has been found that the tray table facing a passenger seat can contribute to head and neck injuries. If the table creates a lip under the video shroud, the chin of the crash test dummy can catch and cause the head to twist. This is deemed as a failed test. Various strategies have been attempted for solving this issue. For example, a spring loaded table that stowed inside of the video shroud was attempted; however, the table could be deployed by the test dummy during HIC testing when the head would drag on the table and pull it out.
The general goal is to prevent the head trajectory of a passenger, in the case of crash, from contacting any sharp or protruding edges. As a result, there is a need for a mechanism to prevent the protrusion of accessories such as the tray table and any tray table retention features into the head trajectory of passengers, and to prevent inadvertent deployment of said accessories and features. There is also a general need for such mechanisms to add minimal weight and to be intuitive to operate.